


An Angel Absconding

by angstiestbean (marsbar)



Series: An Angel Ascending [1]
Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Canon Related, Mentions of War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-06
Updated: 2020-10-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:00:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26853346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marsbar/pseuds/angstiestbean
Summary: In a nameless city, war threatens. A place where only the quickest and craftiest survive by thieving, until it doesn't save them anymore. A nameless teenager works to set his world right.
Series: An Angel Ascending [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1958932
Kudos: 4





	An Angel Absconding

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be a Peter centric fic because I love him as a character. I think he has a very interesting character design, so I wanted to take it and add more trauma and maybe just completely take Mag out? Who knows, maybe I'll throw him in for more brain fuckery (sorry Peter) a little later. This will be a part of a series and I am notorious for maybe not finishing my series' off? But I really want this in general, so hopefully someone else out there will read this and be like, "Oh yeah? That's a take I wanted!" In all honesty, I'm writing this for me. Feel free to read it if you want though!

Some days are better than others, but what else is new. The days are long and hard with work and constant little fights. Things that shouldn’t matter, but with the threat above our heads of another war, tensions rise between neighbors and suddenly its every little thing that gets to you. Its hard to only think of yourself when the people you grew up with are hurting in ways you wish you could fix. And sure, most days I was in those fights, trying to get whatever little scrap of something that would make life that much easier. Did I hurt others to better my situation? Probably. If I had turned my back it would have happened to me anyway. You can’t trust anyone in a war-torn little city of survivors. We are all trying our best to get by and if that means trying to get the upper-hand on someone you once called a friend? Well. You should have been faster. 

So the day they sent in the first round of “Guardians” it took about fifteen minutes before they had been robbed of everything but their fancy outfits, give or take a few fancy jewels they had hidden. Our sad protectors left us to our thieving with anger in their hearts and pockets empty. That day a few of us had eaten better than we had in months, and what wasn’t eaten was passed along to those who needed a helping hand. When it’s a whole city that needs helping, its hard to be biased on who gets what. 

And though I sat in a city of thieves and survivors I thought of the silly little guardians, and thought about how it would feel to be one of them. A stupid daydream for an orphan, but idealistic, something to keep my mind busy as I stole my next meal or set of clothes. It would be near impossible to become a guardian, especially if you come from this place. So I waited for the next set of poor fools to come to the city, surely they wouldn’t leave us all together as a lost cause after one try. 

And they did come back. They had many a number more than that of last time, like that would protect them from us. Like that would stop the sweet talking, the easing forward, the slow distractions that would end with them being empty handed and us with fuller bellies by the end of the night. We watched as the jaded guardians left again, drunk on our momentary victory, as they cursed us. 

And perhaps we deserved the curses. A city of people doing their utmost to keep on living their lives, as small and insignificant as they were to our “Guardians”. But when the war that threatened finally broke, and the ones that should have been there never showed up? We didn’t deserve that. No one deserves to know how it feels to be abandoned by their protectors. Where was the weak government that sent us our insufferable guardians? Where were the gangsters and goons that ran the place to keep us at least moderately safe? 

At fifteen I stood in an alley between two crumbling buildings, watching soldiers indiscriminately cut down my neighbors with their laser rifles and crazed smiles on their faces, high on the adrenaline of an easy victory. At fifteen, I lost my faith in people. I remember years where I fantasized being a Guardian where I could help the people of my city. These monsters wore the faces of our protectors. They didn’t deserve the title or ranking that it brought. I would do what needed to be done, and I was going to stop this from happening again. 

At fifteen, I took my first life. I waited until dark, hiding in different spots throughout the day to better my chances of not being gunned down, and watched as these people started to set up camps. Dragging the dead out of doors or tossing them out of windows like lifeless dummies stood in shops. I listened as they ate and drank and _sang_ of the people they cut down, like it was a hard fought battle against a bunch of unarmed civilians. I sized them up, watching them, trying to estimate who would be closest to my size. And when the poor fool finally wondered away from his camp of murderers to relieve himself? I snuck behind him and slit his stupid throat. I was angry at what they had done to my people, wasn’t thinking clearly. He never made a sound but his clothing was ruined. 

I let out a small growl and quickly pulled the shirt and jacket off him before they got too covered in blood. I grabbed his arms and dragged him as quietly as I could as far from them as I could. When I got to a safe enough distance in my head, I took his uniform pants and stiff soled boots. If the soldiers didn’t leave too soon I'd have time to wash the shirt and jacket at least, to get out the large stain soaking down the collar. I got to work and spent most of the night cleaning them to the best of my ability. You couldn’t get far in this town without at least not knowing how to get blood out of clothes. Any weakness was a target on your back. And now, I’ve finally seen what the real evidence to that was. 

On another day, I'll let myself mourn for my city and her people. On another day I will allow myself my true name. Starting today, I have no name to tie me here until I say so. I will take whatever name I have to to reach my newest goal. I am going to make these people fear me like the civilians they gunned down without a second thought. I put on my new life, new name same face, and set out with the murderers of my people. I would be who my people needed, one way or another. They will rue the day they stormed the nameless city of thieves on the planet Brahma. 

**Author's Note:**

> Yes I took some of the canon and twisted it to make it something I wished. Who doesn't? It will fall closer to canon events, but they will probably also be twisted just a smidge to get them to lay correct. Thank you for reading!


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